Variables, generality and existence
In Paulo Valore (ed.), Topics on General and Formal Ontology. Polimetrica (2006)
| Abstract | So-called mass nouns, however precisely they are defined, are in any case a subset of non-count nouns. Count nouns are either singular or plural; to be non-count is hence to be neither singular nor plural. This is not, as such, a metaphysically significant contrast: 'pieces of furniture' is plural whereas 'furniture' itself is non-count. This contrast is simply between 'the many / few' and 'the much / little' - between counting and measuring. However not all non-count nouns are, like 'furniture', semantically atomic - 'wine' and 'water' are not. And here there are serious difficulties in the assignment of a range of values for variables, in a formal representation of quantified sentences involving such non-atomic non-count nouns. | |||||||||
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Similar books and articlesHenry Laycock (2006). Words Without Objects. Clarendon Press Oxford.
H. W. Noonan (1978). Count Nouns and Mass Nouns. Analysis 38 (4):167 - 172.
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